FLYSTRIKE SURVIOUR!!!WARNING,GRAFFIC PHOTO'S!!!!!!!

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day,I thought I would post this topic for the "sheep"people.

For those of you who are following the journal will be aware I had to move a "mob" of sheep(about 250 hd)off of a wooded hill yesterday(about50acs),so today I went back with the dogs to check no one had been left behind and after doing a tour around the paddock I came across this lamb by the gate,it seems he has been "hiding" up there for about 8 weeks as he had not been "crutched".

He had been "scouring" pretty bad ,but had recovered OK and just had the dried up "dags".So I walked him home (about a mile or so)and up to the shearing shed.Started the "gennie" and got out the narrow handpiece to clean him up................It turns out its a Ram lamb and he has been Flystruck as well ,now scouring that bad with no treatment the sheep has about a 50/50 chance,but add flystrike and NO treatment its chances are about 10%(He was still showing signs of strike,maggots in the wool.)

In spite of all this he was still about score 2 +.I think this is an example of the "genetic "strength of the flock and the hardiness we are breeding into the flock generally.

I have left him in the yards overnight with a fresh pick,it will air dry and scab over really quick,if you start putting "stuff on" it will only bring more "flies".

 

[framing fowl]

So how does something like that happen? Were the flies attracted to the "dags"?

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day,yes in this case the "scouring "was the attractant,but this year in 3 "fly waves" we had over 80 head struck ,but only 2 were breech strike ,all the rest were hip and shoulder ,and this was due entirely to the weather conditions at the time.

Hope this helps ..................................T.O.R..........................

 

[ksalvagno]

Wow, seems like everyone is having a bad year with things. I hope your guy heals just fine.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi Gang,so here is an update......I stopped at the yards on my way out this morning,by the way I had also given him a drench yesterday a well.He looked fine,opened the gate and out he bolted,down the forcing pen and out the gate as he could see a group of the wethers............Checked again this arvo and he had settled in with a group and was "feeding"normally.Now this little fellow was not one that I had selected to keep,but I will follow him for a few months to see if he catches up with the others,Iwill post an update when I shear him in about 4/5 weeks time.

Thanks for you concern,................T.O.R...........................

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Thanks for posting the pics. It's good you caught it when you did. It's always interesting to see pics of things like this. Hope he continues to recover nicely for you!

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi Kate,I think he was on his way to getting over the whole episode by himself.The small amount of "maggots " he still had on one leg would not have matured because it has got so cold.............

I would like to expand this thread a little to include possible control measures............................Would it be of interest to the forum?but I need to think about it for a while.(when I have the dogs out to-day maybe.)......let me know if you want to chat about it further!!!.

...........................................T.O.R.............................

 

[Icu4dzs]

TOR,
While I realize we are dealing with some form of illness/injury of your sheep because of flies, could you possibly explain the problem a little bit more simply for us "NON-sheep" folks?
The nomenclature you are using is quite honestly "over my head" because I don't have sheep.
What exactly is a fly strike? What kind of injury are we seeing in these pictures.
I know a little about cattle and scours in human terms is diarrhea.
I would imagine "dags" are just "dingleberries" (left on the wool after failure to use adequate toilet paper...)
What kind of flies are we talking about here?
Thanks. I am thinking of getting some sheep but will have to learn a lot more in order to do this. I started with cattle and am getting a pair of hogs to feed this year. So sheep are next.
Any advice?
G'day Mate
//BT//
Trim sends

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, if you Google sheep/flystrike,you will find a whole lot of info...............We are going to be away for a couple of days so we can pick the thread up when we get back home.......................regards.T.O.R...............